North America Defence News

Canada is planning to spend $62 billion over next two decades to boost its armed forces' capabilities in offensive cyber-attacks and purchase of armed drones.

Though the plan also calls for the addition of 5,000 more full- and part-time troops, Defense minister Harjit Sajjan did not detail if the spike would mean increased deficit budget or reduced spending in other fields.

It is also unclear, if the Liberal government which is already staring at a deficit projected at $23 billion for 2016-17 would be able to arrange money to achieve its promises.

The policy document instead says Canada has been under-reporting its defence spending for years by not including the money spent by other departments on such items as peacekeeping and veterans' benefits. As a result, it says defence spending is actually around 1.19 per cent this fiscal year, which it will increase to 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2026-27.